Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb

My boyfriend's mum owns a farm and breeds cows, sheep and pigs. The animals live a very happy life, roaming outdoors all day, grazing the green grass of the Somerset hills and if they have any hard feed, it is always organic. We recently bought half a lamb and about 12 Kg of beef. May I just say, I am so glad we own a massive freezer! We are now stocked up for the winter and it's such a brilliant feeling to know we have access to so many different cuts of meat, each one waiting to be honoured with the way of cooking that suits it best - braising, roasting, frying, stewing. This is how I have decided to celebrate the leg of lamb.
INGREDIENTS (for 6 people)

• A 2 Kg leg of lamb on the bone
• 8 fat cloves of garlic + 1 whole garlic head
• Three handfuls of chopped parsley
• A large glass of dry white wine
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Bring your meat to room temperature. Begin by stabbing the meat evenly all over the surface with a long, thin, sharp knife (you should make 16 holes). Cut each clove of garlic in two and stuff them in each one of the holes you created. This will allow the garlic flavour to really penetrate and infuse the meat. 

Next, rub the joint with olive oil, salt, pepper and the parsley. I know it looks like a heck of a lot of parsley! However it will wilt down during the slow roasting process, trust me :-)

Now heat up a cast-iron casserole on a medium heat and pop the meat in. Leave it to cook for about 4 minutes each side, until nice and browned. This process allows the outside area of the meat to crisp up and significantly improves the final result in terms of flavour.

Your joint is now ready to be roasted. Cut the garlic head horizontally and transfer the lamb to a deep roasting tray, placing half of the garlic head underneath the lamb and the other half right next to it.

Pour in the white wine and cover it tightly with foil. Place it in a pre-heated oven at 150°C and cook it for 5 and 1/2 hours, checking it every hour to ensure that the liquid has not evaporated completely, and adding in a little more white wine or water if that is the case. The finished dish will be incredibly moist, garlicky lamb and the meat will fall right off the bone. I have served mine with roast potatoes and peas stewed with onion and pancetta.